Indy Eleven wrapped up their regular season last Saturday with a 3-0 victory over Detroit City FC, thanks to two goals from forward Katie Soderstrom and another from midfielder Addie Chester. Despite the fight Detroit gave, Head Coach Paul Dolinsky said he is proud of his girls for persevering to secure the win and an unbeaten season.
“We were fortunate enough to get a goal in the first half that gave us a little breathing room,” Dolinsky said. “But the girls came out with a mentality to put the game away in the second half.”
With their victory on Saturday, Indy Eleven became one of three unbeaten clubs in the W League as they went undefeated for the regular season with a record of 10W-0L-2D. According to Dolinsky, despite performing well during the regular season, the season resets once the playoffs begin.
“The unfortunate beauty of American sports and how it relates to the game of soccer as it doesn’t matter how you do in the regular season, we got to get to the playoffs and then the season starts over,” Dolinsky said. “It was a tremendous regular season, the girls perform well on a regular basis. But, the season has been restarted coming Wednesday.”
The Girls in Blue will begin their playoff berth with a trip to the Twin Cities to face Minnesota Aurora FC, another team who went undefeated in the regular season, with an 8 p.m. kickoff Wednesday night. Throughout the regular season, Minnesota has racked up a record of 11W-0L-1D, outscoring their opponents 35-8. Dolinsky said the team knows the intensity Minnesota will bring to Wednesday’s match.
“From what I noticed with them, they’re a very, very, very well organized team. They’ve got a good ability to play soccer,” Dolinsky said. “And with those two combined, they’re a dangerous team and their efforts put forth this season are well rewarded by the results they’ve gotten.”
But according to Dolinsky, the Wednesday night strategy is straightforward: just go out and play soccer. “In theory, eventually we’re going to play each other [Minnesota] and hopefully we end up on the right end of the score. The girls should be ready for whatever is thrown at them,” Dolinsky said.
